obliteration

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree English obliterate Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin -ātiōlbor. Old French -ationbor. Middle English -acioun English -ation English -ion English obliteration From obliterate + -ion.

1. The total destruction of something.

   “This illustration depicts exoplanet Kepler-1658b (left), doomed to eventual obliteration by its aging host star.”

   “Stark before-and-after images reveal the obliteration of Bakhmut [title]”

2. The concealing or covering of something.

   “Winter, in coming to the country hereabout, advanced in well-marked stages, wherein might have been successively observed the retreat of the snakes, the transformation of the ferns, the filling of the pools, a rising of fogs, the embrowning by frost, the collapse of the fungi, and an obliteration by snow.”

3. The cancellation, erasure or deletion of something.

   “Whitman did censor himself often enough, changing pronouns in some passages, excising others, learning, in short, the "strategies of concealment" forced on him by the nineteenth century. None of these obliterations, however, can excuse the endeavors of literary critics, who have tried to deny the importance of "sexuality" in the poetry by focusing on its "mystical" or its "universal" aspects.”

   “Because he refused to protect his brother's name from obliteration, he acquires a derogatory nickname.”

4. The cancellation of the function, structure, or both of a vessel or organ; for example, the occlusion of the lumen of a duct, blood vessel, or lymphatic vessel, be it solely functional (as when squeezed by nearby mass effect or inflammation) or both structural and functional (as when clogged with thrombus, embolus, or fibrosis).